Macan Turbo engine damaged

[Phil C]

Hi all
Really hope some one can help me out there as Porsche are trying to avoid a warranty claim.
My wife has a 2014 Macan Turbo with 36,000 miles on the clock. It has extended warranty and all servicing has been completed by Porsche. Last month the engine started making a knocking noise and so we got it collected to our local Porsche centre.

They have ended up stripping the engine to investigate and they found it has water mixed in with the oil and they are blaming that for the damage to one of the cylinders. The water is not from the coolent system (been tested for glycol) and so it has to have come from someware else. Water has not been put into the oil filler and whilst the car has been driven in wet road conditions, it has not been in water other than shallow puddles which occur on the motorway. The air filters are completely clean and intact and so we don't think water has entered though the front grill system of the car.

Can any one think how else water could have got into the engine? They advised me today that 17% of the oil volume is water.

The damage to the engine is cylinder no 2(middleone of left bank) which has completely worn away the lining and the ally and a slight dulling of the cylinders either side, the right hand bank are all perfect with no wear at all.

Could the cylinder damage on no 2 cause a build up of water in the engine from condensation or anything else?

When the oil filter cover was removed from the engine the oil was milky in colour indicating it had emulsified, however after about a week of the drained oil sitting in a bucket it has gone back to a normal oil colour but with metal glitter evident in it. No signs of of emulsification at all- does oil separate back into water and oil once its mixed?

Any help or advice would be appreciated as at the moment they are expecting us to pay for a complete new engine?

Thanks all

 

[tscaptain]

Moved to Macan forum as this is more appropriate.

 

[Phil C]

Thank you

 

[dpoynton]

I had engine problems which were satisfactorily resolved.

https://www.porscheclubgb.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=964479

 

[Geoff_Fields]

Not sure how the diagnosis fits the symptoms. If water was introduced first then surly all cylinders would have been affected roughly equally. If an head gasket or similar had failed then one cylinder would have suffered more than the others. Not sure about the glycol argument.

 

[Motorhead]

Sorry to hear about your puzzling problem Phil.

Assuming there's no history of serious flood damage, I can't see how such a large volume of ostensibly pure water can have entered the sump of a sealed engine unless it was poured in through the oil filler cap. Under normal driving, if water entered via the intake system, unless it was a very large volume (which could hydraulic the engine), wouldn't you expect it to pass through the top end of the engine as steam?

Left unattended I would expect water to collect on the surface of the oil in a bucket.

Jeff

 

[Phil C]

Hi jeff
car has not been near deep water apart from road spray on the M25 and A roads.

the fact the engine is only damaged on one side and specifically one cylinder, everybody is advising me the water in the oil is misleading and cannot have caused the piston wear on the surface of one cylinder.

is our car one of the first porsche Macan Turbo to suffer from cylinder wear and will others start to fail across the globe?? I have read of one in Finland and one in the US that had bore wear and so this is not an isolated example - is this the 996 problem all over again??

If any one owns the same vehicle type I would suggest they get their dealer to inspect the cylinder, specifically left centre, to check for wear. An endoscope camera would easy pick it up and hopefully catch it at an early stage.

 

[Geoff_Fields]

Another observation... If 17% by volume of water was added to the oil then surely the oil level gauge would have been alarming OVERFILL.

 

[Motorhead]

Unless there's been a coolant leak into the cylinder, maybe the "non-coolant thing" is just a red herring Phil. Has the Porsche Centre very carefully checked the head gasket for signs of cracking?

Assuming that the valvetrain is intact, I really can't see single cylinder damage being caused by anything other than a cylinder liner/piston/piston ring failure, in which case your extended warranty should cover any remedial work.

Jeff

 

[Phil C]

I assume they have but will ask the question.

as an update I measured the water content in the glass decant jar today and it wasnt 17% but 10.7% by volume! I am sure this was a genuine error in the communication from the dealship.